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Found: Stolen Alexander Hamilton Letter to the Marquis de Lafayette

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Found: Stolen Alexander Hamilton Letter to the Marquis de Lafayette

#11

Post by pkaye »

Waterluvian wrote: post #8
pkaye wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can sue the dealer that sold them the object. I'm sure they can get insurance too but possibly the insurer would do some research on the object before underwriting. Kind of like title insurance.

I bought title insurance last week because I had to. But I'm curious what it's about. Is it in case someone shows up and is like, "no I'm the actual owner of the house. The seller defrauded everyone, look at all this evidence."?

Yes the title insurer does their research for any discrepancies and then insures you and the lender against certain risks.

Re: Found: Stolen Alexander Hamilton Letter to the Marquis de Lafayette

#12

Post by justsayinstuff »

twblalock wrote: post #2

The contents of the letter: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-07...

>I am My Dear Marquis with the truest affection Yr. Most Obedt

What does Obedt mean here? Was Hamilton really literally a servant?

Re: Found: Stolen Alexander Hamilton Letter to the Marquis de Lafayette

#13

Post by dailyrorschach »

justsayinstuff wrote: post #12
twblalock wrote: post #2

The contents of the letter: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-07...

>I am My Dear Marquis with the truest affection Yr. Most Obedt What does Obedt mean here? Was Hamilton really literally a servant?

Obedient.

Re: Found: Stolen Alexander Hamilton Letter to the Marquis de Lafayette

#14

Post by sparky_z »

Waterluvian wrote: post #8
pkaye wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can sue the dealer that sold them the object. I'm sure they can get insurance too but possibly the insurer would do some research on the object before underwriting. Kind of like title insurance.

I bought title insurance last week because I had to. But I'm curious what it's about. Is it in case someone shows up and is like, "no I'm the actual owner of the house. The seller defrauded everyone, look at all this evidence."?

The other replies are correct, but there are also subtler problems that title insurance can cover. One example I remember reading about was an old surveying error that resulted in an inlaw unit encroaching 6 inches on a neighbor's property. If such a problem is discovered, the insurance company might negotiate with the neighbor to purchase a perpetual easement or, failing that, pay to have the inlaw unit either moved or altered to correct the problem.

Re: Found: Stolen Alexander Hamilton Letter to the Marquis de Lafayette

#15

Post by dflock »

justsayinstuff wrote: post #12
twblalock wrote: post #2

The contents of the letter: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-07...

>I am My Dear Marquis with the truest affection Yr. Most Obedt What does Obedt mean here? Was Hamilton really literally a servant?

No - it's just a very polite/formal way of singing a letter to royalty/gentry. Like "Yours sincerely" turned up to 11.

Re: Found: Stolen Alexander Hamilton Letter to the Marquis de Lafayette

#16

Post by JadeNB »

slg wrote: post #6
y96V89C668e7Q74 wrote: post #4

When something like this is found, is the family just out of luck as far as the value of the item goes, or do they somehow get compensated? Obviously they didn't know it was stolen when they bought it from the rare document dealer. Is there insurance for cases like that?

Also how much time has to pass before the stolen nature becomes immaterial? I would imagine that a majority of artifacts in most history museums fit some definition of the word "stolen". Is this just different because it was stolen within the last century?

I'm sure that a lot of suitably ancient theft is shrugged off—I guess even that suitably ancient theft eventually becomes synonymous with possession—but the example of the Elgin marbles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin_Marbles) shows that it's not always so.

Re: Found: Stolen Alexander Hamilton Letter to the Marquis de Lafayette

#17

Post by unknownkadath »

justsayinstuff wrote: post #12
twblalock wrote: post #2

The contents of the letter: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-02-02-07...

>I am My Dear Marquis with the truest affection Yr. Most Obedt What does Obedt mean here? Was Hamilton really literally a servant?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Yr-mO1o1uHk

A relevant song from the Broadway show

Re: Found: Stolen Alexander Hamilton Letter to the Marquis de Lafayette

#18

Post by slg »

JadeNB wrote: post #16
slg wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also how much time has to pass before the stolen nature becomes immaterial? I would imagine that a majority of artifacts in most history museums fit some definition of the word "stolen". Is this just different because it was stolen within the last century?

I'm sure that a lot of suitably ancient theft is shrugged off—I guess even that suitably ancient theft eventually becomes synonymous with possession—but the example of the Elgin marbles ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin_Marbles ) shows that it's not always so.

A lot of these pieces, including the Elgin Marbles, weren't part of an ancient theft. Many of them weren't stolen until the 18th, 19th, or 20th centuries. For example, the UK has also refused to return certain pieces of artwork that the Nazis stole from Holocaust victims. That theft occurred at roughly the same time this letter was stolen.

Re: Found: Stolen Alexander Hamilton Letter to the Marquis de Lafayette

#19

Post by virtualwhys »

y96V89C668e7Q74 wrote: post #4

When something like this is found, is the family just out of luck as far as the value of the item goes, or do they somehow get compensated? Obviously they didn't know it was stolen when they bought it from the rare document dealer. Is there insurance for cases like that?

There's a clawback provision in place in most major auction house contracts that states that the funds for any sold item (or the item itself) can, at any point in the future, be recouped from the buyer/seller if proven to have been stolen or fraudulent.

Basically as the seller of such an item you'll be sued, so be sure proof of provenance is sound. In this case the letter was part of a government archive, so back to Massachusetts it will go...

Re: Found: Stolen Alexander Hamilton Letter to the Marquis de Lafayette

#20

Post by cududa »

hirundo wrote: post #9

Note to self: don't steal stuff that will still be scorching hot 80 years later. Except kisses.

...dude if you ever get accused of some form of sexual assault or gender discrimination, you know this will probably be a part of the evidence. And on the other hand: that’s gross.
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